2.3 – Pandora

Evils of the past, events of the present, and echoes of the future conspire to destroy the very heart of Gallifrey’s civilisation.

1 Comment

Styre
on May 9, 2016 at 12:55 AM

GALLIFREY: PANDORA

Near the end of “Spirit,” the preceding Gallifrey play that served primarily as a character piece, a new mystery was introduced: a Time Lord, mutilated beyond recognition and unable to communicate, arriving in a TARDIS still residing in the docking chambers. Justin Richards’ “Pandora” gets to the bottom of this mystery, and in true Richards fashion it’s intricate, twist-filled, and well-constructed.

As with other stories in this series, “Pandora” doesn’t feature much incident: there are many scenes in which characters like the Inquisitor (Lynda Bellingham), Braxiatel (Miles Richardson), Narvin (Sean Carlsen), Wynter (Ian Hallard), and Romana herself debate the finer points of Time Lord politics. I confess that I’m still not especially interested in the political consequences of appointing a Chancellor, nor the implications of making Braxiatel the first such Time Lord since Flavia. However, unlike some of the first season’s longer scenes, “Pandora” doesn’t focus on these matters to the exclusion of all else. K9’s investigation into the nature of the “broken man” is fascinating, Richards using mutiple in-story flashbacks to reveal more and more about his identity. I wasn’t happy with the prolonged, brutal violence when we see how the “broken man” became so mutilated, however — while certainly well-acted and disturbing, it didn’t fit at all with the tone of the rest of the play and seemed more distracting than anything.

Richards also clears many of the pieces off the board going forward. Pandora (Barbara Longman), the ancient Imperiatrix lurking in the Matrix, is removed from the equation at the same time as Braxiatel, a move that seems to explain his divorce from Gallifreyan society and progression into the Bernice Summerfield audio series. And while CIA types like Narvin were always going to be slimy individuals of questionable morals, this story allows the Inquisitor to come into her own as one of the true villains of the piece. Bellingham is the true star of this story, her shadow hanging over every scene as she expertly manipulates events to undermine Romana’s authority and the Presidency itself. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how her plans develop in the final two stories of this season. I’m also looking forward to the resolution of the problems between Leela and Andred (Andy Coleman) — though in this case mostly because I find the conflict to be repetitive and distracting.

Gary Russell and David Darlington continue to do a fine job as director and composer/sound designer, respectively. With such a static play, it can be difficult to maintain the interest, but the pacing never flags and this listener, at least, never got bored. Overall, “Pandora” continues the upward trend in quality of the Gallifrey audios, and bodes well for what will surely be a epic conclusion.